Papaya Storm

A few weeks ago, I went to cut down some papayas from a tree out back. You see, if I wait too long, the papayas ripen and the birds come and eat them. The birds are pretty, and I enjoy watching them, but they eat the papayas that are rightfully mine! Mine! Anyway - when I went to lasso a nice, ripe papaya, I managed to knock half the fruit off the tree. This means that I got hit in the head with several unripened, green papayas. Definitely the most refreshing concussion I've ever experienced.

As I recovered from the fruit avalanche, I had just induced - I saw sitting there, alone in a bare section of the tree was the bright yellow, ripened papaya - the one I had been aiming for - unscathed and mocking me.

So, here are some pictures of my fruity assailants. I had to find something to do with all these giant, green papayas - So they wound up in a couple of salads and salsas.

Oh, yes - they ARE that big.

Clearly delirious from impact

Eh, ripe enough... Take THAT birds!

Goats!

So, this summer, I went crazy and purchased some goats. This was not an entirely preposterous endeavor. It will surprise most of the people that I know that there was an actual plan for the goats all along. 

You see… goats will eat darn near anything that they come across. Which means that they are replacing my compost pile for a much faster system of organic reconstitution. 

Goats, as with other ruminants like cows, deer and sheep, have a rumen. This rumen acts as a decomposition center that rapidly breaks down things that are otherwise indigestible to animals without one. 

Using goats this season, we managed to keep from throwing out any of the corn waste that is produced from corn production. That includes the husks and stalks. The pictures below are the goats and all the personality that comes with them. 

The big male and I have a strange relationship - he keeps me on my toes.

This is the mama goat - soon she'll be a mama again!

The baby, he's packed with personality

Soon to be a mama for the first time, she loves banana peels!

I'm excited for this herd to be much larger

In a few weeks, we hope that two of the females will give us some babies so that we can have even more goats and start collecting goat milk for cheese production.